


Of thieves and cultists

by Itherael



Series: Of thievery and world saving [1]
Category: Diablo (Video Game), Diablo III
Genre: Corpse Desecration, Gen, My Demon Hunter is a disgrace to the Hunters, Stealing, The Reformed Cultist event, This was going to be short but it has some world building, but there's still some of the canon DH in his personality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-15
Updated: 2016-11-15
Packaged: 2018-08-31 03:42:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8562517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Itherael/pseuds/Itherael
Summary: If only that cultist knew the truth.

 
A different take from the Reformed Cultist event from Act 5.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So, despite the fact that I keep being kicked out due to bad connection and I can’t finish the 3rd chapter of season journey, I was graced once again with the Reformed Cultist event from Act 5. And that event is such a joke considering the stuff I use to do while looting...
> 
> Also sorry for my DH, he's a bit... different from the canon DH.

To say Kormac wasn’t amused by the situation would be the understatement of the century.

First of all, his beloved Westmarch was being destroyed by angels, well, _former angels_ and every corner was filled with _glowing skeletons_. Not the strangest thing he had seen since that night in the Cathedral, and certainly not the last.

And secondly...

“I hate to say this, but this is extremely good for business”

_Luke._

The Demon Hunter was looking at the piles of corpses with an unsurprising amount of interest, probably mentally cataloging what was worth to sell or to keep for himself. And no matter how long they had been traveling together, the antics of the Nephalem never seemed to stop being an entire contradiction of the usual “hero” personality.

If anything, he was a younger, more powerful version of that _wretched scoundrel_. And that kind of explained why they got along so well.

Despite how young he was, Luke had seen too much, _lived too much_ , but his carefree personality was shocking considering his line of work. And that short trip to the Hunter’s camp in the north had proved them how much of an _exception_ Lucas was. From stony and gloom faces to mischief incarnated, it was quite a shocking difference.

Ignoring all that, their quest to find the Crucible had been stopped countless of time to save some residents of the commons of Westmarch or to slay those possessed by Malthael's influence. It was a grimm task, so this time, Kormac would keep quiet about his... distaste to the Hunter's activities.

But above all, even if the youngest member of their group was carefully trying to get a ring from a skeletal finger with the precision of someone skilled at their art, Kormac could still see how much of this act seemed forced. The slight tremor in his hands, the forced smirk in his face and how pale the Hunter looked was enough evidence that this situation was more than he could handle.

Even Lyndon was looking at him with concern. Lyndon, of all the people!

"Ok... we should get going" Luke said, throwing the ring to his bag. "There's more people to save and more treasure to loot!"

Kormac could only hope this would end soon.

* * *

The exploration to the abandoned houses had proved to be mostly unsuccessful, and with each passing house and more body count, the tremor in Luke's hands had become worse. There wasn't even jokes or the habitual corpse looting, and the serious expression in his face was sort of unsettling. Sure, Kormac had hoped more than once to see some seriousness in his young companion, but the few occasions he had seen said seriousness, the Hunter had pushed his limits too far, ignoring even his own well-being.

The attempts at conversation made by Eirena and Lyndon had been ignored, much to the surprise of all of them. Because no matter how difficult the situation was, Luke had never ignored an occasion to banter and _flirt_ with the scoundrel, or answer any question Eirena had.

But the next house they had found had brought a surprise. A surprise that made them freeze in their place.

One of the cultists from Maghda's Coven was fighting, surrounded by skeletons.

Kormac had seriously thought that they would leave the cultist to his own luck, considering their previous... history with them, so it came as a surprise when an arrow had pierced the skull of one of the skeletons, quickly followed by the familiar sound of the crossbows of the Hunter firing.

"What are you waiting for?!" Luke roared at his companions, the expression of rage in such a young face was something that still made Kormac mad.

_The weight of the world in such a young man was unfair._

Kormac, Eirena and Lyndon quickly jumped into action, and the fight was over rather quickly. The cultist was mostly unharmed, but when he finally recognized his saviors, the man stood still.

There was fear in his eyes, _and no wonder why_ , but he still stood proud in front of the group that laid waste to the Coven.

 "You!" the cultist all but screamed, "You have destroyed the Coven!" and here came the accusations and assassination attempts... "You of all the people will understand what I'm doing here"

 ... What?

The frail-looking man walked towards a wooden door, half destroyed by the skeleton's attack. "Our ill-gotten treasure is behind this door! We did despicable things to amass it- desecrated tombs, robbed corpses..." his voice had gained an ashamed, tired tone, "Things you would never do! I was going to destroy it. But you-... the hand of righteousness- you can use it for good!"

And now his voice carried a strong conviction, looking at the group with a strange sense of hope. The group, however...

Kormac was looking at his boots, ashamed to make eye contact with the man. Eirena, sweet Eirena, was trying to give the man a small smile. And Akarat knows how Lyndon managed to keep a poker face during the cultist's speech.

_Oh Akarat, if only the cultist knew the truth..._

But Luke...

Luke was laughing. There was an hysterical undertone behind his laugh, but it was still laughter. Kormac couldn't believe it, but he was actually glad to hear it. The face of the Hunter had managed to regain his youthful appearance, even if the situation was beyond uncomfortable.

_Considering that half the armor the Nephalem was wearing had been stolen from corpses and the other half had been tailored and paid with gold stolen from corpses._

"I'm... I'm sorry" Luke had managed to say, breathless. "I thank you for such a gracious offer, sir, and I'll make sure to make a good use of it"

The poor cultist was left wondering what he had said to make the feared Nephalem laugh like that.

* * *

In the end, the treasure room had been a terrible disappointment. A few pieces of gold, some useless and half destroyed armor and only a few salvaged pieces that could be offered to Headrig to make more materials.

The hunter and Lyndon looked more than annoyed at the outcome of this, considering that this had been the supposed "treasure" of the cultists, but Luke at least had regained a bit of his usual self, bantering with the Scoundrel like they usually did.

And despite the situation, Kormac was glad of it.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Actually I didn't want to write anything with Lucas until the expansion was announced, because originally his story (and Lyndon's) have too much to do with the supposed Kingsport missions spoiled in a datamined patch (from 2014 if I'm not mistaken?)  
> But that event happened and I was laughing, like I always do with that event, when the cultist says that the Nephalem wouldn't do any of the stuff they used to do to gain their treasure. Oh, if only he knew...
> 
> Luke's tale will be (hopefully) expanded soon! If you have any questions, you can always drop an ask to my tumblr, [iterael](http://iterael.tumblr.com/)


End file.
